Romney Targets Critical Latino Vote In Ad About Unemployment [VIDEO]

The Mitt Romney campaign targeted the Hispanic vote in dual English and Spanish Web ads Tuesday morning in an attempt to woo a voting bloc that heavily supported President Barack Obama in 2008 and could prove to be critical in the 2012 election.

The commercial is a response to a recent Obama campaign ad that asserts that things are on the right path for Latinos.

To the tune of ominous music, the minute-long ad pairs pictures of concerned-looking people of Latino descent with facts about the economy, including the Bureau of Labor Statistics finding that Hispanic unemployment rose from 10 percent to 11 percent last month.

Really? asks the commercial before displaying the Romney campaign's Obama Isn't Working logo.

In 2008, 67 percent of Latino voters picked President Obama over his then Republican rival, Sen. John McCain.

A March Fox News Latino poll predicted that Obama would still vastly outperform his GOP rival among the voting bloc, receiving 70 percent to Romney's 14 percent. Seventy-three percent said they approved of Obama's performance.

But Republicans are desperately trying to win over a rapidly growing voting bloc that could shape the outcome in swing states such as Colorado, New Mexico and North Carolina.

The polls show how Latino voters are alienated by tough new immigration laws passed by Republican-controlled states, as well as by GOP opposition to the DREAM Act, a bill that would offer citizenship to immigrants who were brought into the country illegally as children.

But Republicans, who have made the economy and unemployment rate the focus of their campaign, hope to convince Latinos that they continue to lose under Obama's fiscal policy.

The importance of the Latino vote sparked enthusiasm for a Republican Latino running mate, like tea party star Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. However, another April survey by Public Policy Polling found that a Latino running mate would do little to fix the gap.